Chapter 3: Renegades

Flashlights in hand, Seth led both Lance and David out of the tent and across the backyard, towards the back door of the main house. The area was completely silent. Normally at this late hour, Seth would've been able to spot the occasional fairy whizzing around. But tonight the entire yard appeared to be completely mute.

The trio entered through the back door into the kitchen. From there, Seth brought the others into the hallway, and up to a door that proved to be locked the moment Seth twisted the handle.

"What's in there?" asked David in a whispering voice.

"It's my grandpa's study," replied Seth. "I normally keep out of this place, so I forgot that he normally keeps it locked."

"Where's the key?" asked Lance.

Seth squinted his eyes, then stroked his eyebrows. "We don't need the stupid key. Watch this."

Seth proceeded to release Umbriel from his ring. The exhausted fairy hovered in front of him, looking a little feint.

"Now what?" she asked crankily.

"I need you to unlock this door for us."

Umbriel looked at the door, then turned back and faced Seth. "Whadda ya wanna go in there for?"

"I'm looking for something," said Seth. "And I can't wake Grandpa... or I'll get in trouble."

"Fine, whatever," said Umbriel. She turned back towards the door and unleashed a stream of blue sparkles from her hands. The sparkles made contact with the lock, and soon a clicking sound was heard.

"There, you happy?" asked Umbriel. "I'm not a toy, you know."

"Thank you!" whispered Seth, as he proceeded to draw Umbriel back into his ring.

"You're wel-" was all Umbriel managed to say before she was forced back into the ring.

Seth then twisted the doorknob and pushed the door inwards, revealing Grandpa Sorenson's private study to Lance and David.

"Cool!" said Lance, as he and David scoped the decor out with their flashlights.

"What are we looking for, anyway?" asked David, as Seth closed the door behind them rather lightly.

"Any information at all about getting getting you out of David's body. Or Zavarok out of your body. Who am I talking to, anyway?"

"David. Unless he says so otherwise, Zavarok lets me be in control of my own body."

"This is weird," said Seth, as he pulled the chain on the banker's lamp that sat upon his grandfather's desk. The light that emitted from the lamp was enough to brighten the room to the point where the boys could switch off their flashlights. Seth then directed his friends over to the bookshelf, which took up nearly an entire wall of the study. From there, he began skimming the spines of the various books.

"Any idea what books in here we should look for?" asked Lance.

Seth shook his head. "Beats me. I'm not the kind of guy who spends more time in a library than what's absolutely necessary, but it's not like we really have a choice here."

After a minute or so of searching, Seth had pulled three books from the shelves. He handed one each to Lance and David, then kept the third one to himself. "These are books about demons. I know the others weren't able to extract Navarog from my body the proper way, so it's possible that they never looked for an answer that didn't involve making a wish."

"I really hope there is a way that isn't a near impossibility," said David, as he sat down on the couch and opened up his book.

Seth sat down in the office chair that was behind Grandpa's desk, then placed the book he was holding down in front of him. The book itself appeared to be quite old, and bore the title "Demon Legends".

The three boys all glanced through the books they had assigned themselves to. Seth eagerly speed-read his way through Demon Legends, hoping to find a solution to their problem. Most of what Seth did discover actually seemed to be legitimately interesting, though it all appeared to not hold any answer as far as separating David and Zavarok was concerned.

As far as any of the boys' research went, none of them found any information whatsoever on separating demons from hosts. While they did in fact discover many cases of demons possessing various people and other creatures, not one of the examples had a happy ending. Either the possessed victim was killed somehow, or they were never seen again. Even Lance, who had been given an informative book entitled "Demons of the World", couldn't dig up any answers.

"This isn't any help," said David, closing the the back cover of his book. "It's like the process of exorcising a demon doesn't even exist!"

"Would a typical exorcism work on a demon, maybe?" asked Lance.

"I doubt it," replied Seth. "See, unlike actual ghosts, demons are not undead. What happened with Navarog and Zavarok was that both of them were destroyed in their human forms, allowing their spirits to linger on without actually dying. Thing is, most demons are not part dragon, and as such, aren't able to inhabit secondary forms like that, which is why we've been having so much trouble finding any information."

"David," said Lance, "do you know why Zavarok and Navarog even have demonic traits in the first place?"

"I do," answered David. "Their mother was a dragon who just so happened to have bad intentions. However, their father was in fact an actual demon. Somehow, the mother managed to get pregnant, despite the fact they were of two different species."

"I... never knew that," said Seth. "I was forced to put up with Navarog all that time, yet I never learned anything about his past."

"Okay, so I get why Navarog earned his demon prince title," said Lance. "But that still doesn't explain why Zavarok has been acting so nice."

"Zavarok's either very smart, or very stupid," stated Seth. "He could be deceiving us. But if we have knowledge of his existence, we can easily stop him."

"Please," moaned David. "Zavarok is not an evil demon. I know it sounds crazy, but you've got to believe me!"

"Demons in general don't exactly have a good reputation," noted Seth. "What's so special about Zavarok?"

"He's not like other demons!" exclaimed David. "I know I can't prove anything, but at least give me a chance!"

"Look, you could spend all night telling me why Zavarok is such a goody two-shoes, but at the end of the day, demons are pure evil. Navarog was evil. Graulus was evil. Nagi Luna, Gorgrog, I could go on, they're all evil! Come on, Lance. Let's tell the others before things get out of hand."

"But Seth," said Lance, as Seth walked towards the door. "David may be possessed, but he's my brother. I love him."

"It's not David I'm mad at. It's Zavarok. We'll get some real help, and then we can have that demon transported to Zzyzx by breakfast."

As Seth placed his hand on the doorknob, Lance tapped his shoulder. Without saying anything, Seth looked back at David. The poor boy was sitting on the couch, and had started to cry.

"David," said Seth. "Don't worry. You'll be fine. We'll get rid of Zavarok and you can be perfectly normal again."

"It's Zavarok who's crying," sobbed David, as he wiped some tears from his eyes."You're not even giving him a chance."

"Well, what am I supposed to do?" asked Seth. "He's a demon! They're not worth the risk!"

"Zavarok is different," said David. "Please try to understand."

"Maybe there's some information on Zavarok in one of these books!" said Lance. "Can we at least try to find information on him before throwing in the towel?"

Seth groaned. "Fine. But we looked through those demon books and there wasn't any mention of Zavarok, let alone anything about Navarog."

"Let's try looking up some information in books about dragons," said David, as he wiped away the rest of his tears with a tissue.

Seth got around to returning the three demon books back to their spots on the shelves, then proceeded to seek and pull out some books pertaining to dragons.

"I hope we find something," said Seth, as he began thumbing through the book that lay before him. "I'm finding this Zavarok thing hard to believe, and without any concrete information on his past, this is getting kind of frustrating."

"I know how you must feel," said David. "But I can sense Zavarok's thoughts. If only there was some way to prove that he isn't a bad individual. At least, not on purpose."

"I can't find any mention of Zavarok in this book," said Lance, stroking several pages from his book with his fingers. "Maybe he wasn't all that prominent, which would be plausible given that David's told us that he isn't evil. There's no way they could've documented the exploits of every dragon to ever live."

"Maybe there's information under Navarog," said David, flipping through the pages of his book.

Seth then turned to a section of his book that talked about Navarog extensively. He began reading the opening paragraph, only for his eyes to light up upon reading something that grabbed his attention.

"I found something!" blurted Seth, who began to read the book aloud. "Navarog is believed to have an identical twin brother. However, the identity of this twin is currently unknown. The brother's allegiance is unknown, as he may or may not be an accomplice of his brother. He has never been spotted alongside Navarog, so this rumor remains unconfirmed."

David winced. "Is that all?"

"I know it's not much," said Lance. "But it's something."

"Okay," said Seth. "I'll believe David. But I still don't know if I should entirely trust him. From a neutral standpoint, it seems risky."

"David, maybe we can find more information in our books," said Seth.

"It's worth a try," said David. "I mean, I wouldn't be learning anything, but at least it'd be more proof, to say the least."

The trio continued searching through several more dragon books. Of the remaining books, only one more made any mention of Navarog having a brother, but it had proven to be even less informative than the first.

After the boys had finished digging up what little information they could on Navarog, they then placed the books on dragons back into their spots on the shelf.

"So, where do we go from here?" asked Lance.

"Well, it's obvious that between the three of us, none of us have the means to extract Zavarok from David," replied Seth. "And I'm still wary about this whole situation myself. It's just that, well... even though there's no proof to Zavarok's allegiance, I still sympathize with David. It's just the way he's been acting. It seems so sincere. Then again, Gavin was friendly too."

David took in a deep breath. "I understand. I know full well that demons are entities of darkness. But Zavarok is different. I wanted to prove that he wasn't evil, but those books of your grandfather's didn't have an answer."

"I believe that everyone is an individual, responsible for their own actions," said Seth. "But when it comes to demons, that's a different story. A good demon is completely unheard of. An oxymoron. But, I guess there's a lot about life that we still don't know."

Lance looked at Seth and David, then turned his head over towards the bookcase. "Well, I don't think we're going to find any more answers from these books. But, if these books don't have the answer... who does?"

"The only people I'd trust are all either fairies, or they're aligned with the Knights of the Dawn," stated Seth. "And with my grandfather as the captain of the whole group, nothing we'd do would get past him."

"I'm almost tempted to just fess up," said David. "I don't want Zavarok to suffer, but maybe putting the demon out of his misery would be the best long-term solution."

"Yeah, but what if they're unable, or unwilling, to separate you two?" asked Seth. "Then David might suffer as well, even though he's innocent."

"Well, who else can you trust that wouldn't rat us out?" asked Lance.

"They'd have to be powerful," said David. "Have no affiliation with the Knights of the Dawn. Oh, and it would help if they actually knew what to do."

"Good luck with that," said Lance.

Seth began to think to himself, trying to envision someone he knew that fit David's description. However, just about everyone he could actually trust was loyal to the Knights of the Dawn. Bracken? No, he was a unicorn, and no doubt despised demons. Warren? Sure, he lacked power, but maybe he had connections? Probably not.

Suddenly, an idea hit Seth like a ton of bricks. "I know!" he exclaimed.

"Who?" exclaimed David anxiously.

"The Singing Sisters! They can find information about anything! They helped me locate Vasilis back when the Society was trying to open Zzyzx."

"Are they Knights?" asked Lance.

"Not by a longshot."

"Wait a minute," said David. "They'll just tell you anything you want to know? What's the catch?"

Seth stopped to think for a moment, then smacked his forehead. "Aw jeez! I almost forgot! The Singing Sisters don't just dispense information for nothing! You need to make a bargain with them."

"Well, you did it before, right?" asked Lance. "What'd it cost you?"

"Vasilis and a favor of their choosing come April next year. Or I die."

"What?" asked David, his mouth lowered in awe.

"You heard me. That's the price for their information. It's an invaluable commodity and they know it."

"Zavarok wants to go," said David. "The sooner, the better."

"The Singing Sisters don't exactly live around the block," said Seth. "Their home is all the way in Missouri, near the Mississippi River."

"Great," muttered Lance. "It's not like we can just run over there anytime. We live all the way down in Florida."

"And in a couple of days from now, we've gotta go back to school," said David. "We can't just take a trip to Missouri."

Seth suddenly smiled. "Lucky for you guys, I have a knack for being sneaky."

"What are you talking about?" asked Lance.

"I've broken curfews plenty of times. I once snuck into Grunhold and swiped their unicorn horn after my bedtime. Then I secretly followed along when the Knights went to Wyrmroost. Ended up saving their butts in the long run. Normally, I'd have gotten in huge trouble for all this, but I got off easy since it was for a good cause. And if there really is a way to free Zavarok from David, I'm all for it!"

"Okay," said Lance. "Now how do we get to the Singing Sisters? We can't drive there."

"Take a bus, maybe?" asked David.

"Hold on," said Seth. "You guys really want to go through with this? Without telling the others?"

Lance and David looked at each other, then nodded.

Seth laughed. "You guys are all right!"

"I'm only agreeing to this, since it may be the only way to help David," noted Lance. "If something goes awry, we're gonna be grounded for like a hundred years!"

"Maybe we can also ask the sisters if they know a way to keep our parents from killing us once we get back," said David. "But seriously, Seth, how do you plan to get all the way to Missouri?"

"Simple. We'll ride Raxtus."

"Isn't he a fairy dragon?" asked Lance. "He's not just gonna fly us to Missouri, especially if he knows why we want to go there."

"We may have to bend the rules a bit to employ Raxtus' help," said Seth. "I mean, I hate to do this sort of thing to a friend, but it's for our own good."

"There's no way you'll get Raxtus to help us," said David. "It's too convoluted."

"There might be a way," said Seth. "In the meantime, I'm going to find the exact coordinates to the Singing Sisters' home. I know that it's around here somewhere, since I'll need it later."

"Seth, tell us, do you really have to go back to the Singing Sisters on your own terms?" asked Lance.

Seth nodded. "I do. It's to do with an enchantment they placed on me when I made my bargain with them."

"Were you really that desperate for their help?" asked David.

"Unfortunately. Without their help, we probably never would have found Vasilis, and ultimately, never would have stopped the demons of Zzyzx. This whole world would be a hellish nightmare right now if we didn't have Vasilis on our side.

"That's pretty serious," said David. "And to think that I only want the sisters' advice to help myself and Zavarok."

"Maybe the sisters will go easy on you," said Lance. "Considering that you want their help for something on a much smaller scale."

"What's your favor going to be like, Seth?" asked David.

"No clue," said Seth "And I'm not exactly anxious to find out, even though it's going to be inevitable down the road. They may ask for me to conquer a country. Or they might ask me to do their grocery shopping. I don't know. But let's concentrate on the issue at hand for now. I'll look for the directions to the Singing Sisters, and then write a note explaining where we're going, which we'll leave behind. Then, before everyone else wakes up, we'll get Raxtus' help and take off for the Singing Sisters before breakfast."